Movies like Lash of the Penitentes (1936)
The best movies like Lash of the Penitentes (1936) are Past Malice: An Emma Fielding Mystery (2018), Garage Sale Mystery: A Case Of Murder (2017) and Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: Haunted By Murder (2022). If Lash of the Penitentes hooked you with its mystery and crime, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Unforgivable (2021)7.4/10 from 2,174 votes
- NewestInside Man (2023)Released 2023
Past Malice: An Emma Fielding Mystery (2018)
Archaeologist Emma Fielding is hired to consult on the acquisition of a castle-like estate that local legend states is cursed. But she finds herself in the middle of a murder case after discovering the body of the archaeologist she was hired to shadow in a secret chamber in the bowels of the huge building. Assisted by her friend, FBI special agent Jim Conner, Fielding must sift through clues and a long list of suspects, each of whom has their own reason for wanting the man dead, to determine who is the killer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGarage Sale Mystery: A Case Of Murder (2017)
Jenn buys an old reel-to-reel recorder at a garage sale only to find that it includes the sound of a man pleading for his life. When the former owner of the recorder, a retired therapist, is found murdered in a patient’s apartment, Jenn’s investigation leads to other patients whose love lives are more entangled than she was first led to believe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAurora Teagarden Mysteries: Haunted By Murder (2022)
A murder investigation is reignited in a house that is considered haunted by the Lawrenceton locals and where years ago Aurora and Sally, as teenagers, discovered a body.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Mask of Dimitrios (1944)
A mystery writer is intrigued by the tale of notorious criminal Dimitrios Makropolous, whose dead body was found washed up on the shore in Istanbul. He decides to follow the career of Dimitrios around Europe, in order to learn more about the man. Along the way he is joined by the mysterious Mr. Peters, who has his own motivation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLocked In (2021)
A single mother must protect her daughter and herself during a heist gone wrong at a high-tech storage facility.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Assault (2014)
After a cheerleader is sexually assaulted by the high school football team, she must overcome her shame and use the evidence gathered from the subsequent social media firestorm to piece together the night that she can't remember in her fight for justice. Based on the true story of the Steubenville, Ohio rape case.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisReal Murders: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery (2015)
Aurora finds a member of her crime buff group, the Real Murders Club, killed in a manner that eerily resembles the crime the club was about to discuss. As other brutal "copycat" killings follow, Aurora will have to uncover the person behind the terrifying game.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Caveman's Valentine (2001)
Romulus, a misunderstood musician turned recluse hiding from personal demons in a New York City cave, finds the frozen body of a young drifter in a tree. The authorities, including his police officer daughter, claim the death is accidental. Romulus is convinced the man was murdered by a prominent art photographer but how can he prove he's right when everyone thinks he's insane?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Ritual Killer (2023)
Unable to process the death of his daughter, Detective Boyd embarks on a hunt for a serial killer who murders according to a brutal tribal ritual: Muti. The only person who can help Boyd is Professor Mackles, an anthropologist who hides an unspeakable secret. The line between sanity and madness thins as Boyd goes deeper into the killer’s world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Blue Gardenia (1953)
Upon waking up to the news that the man she’d gone on a date with the previous night has been murdered, a young woman with only a faint memory of the night’s events begins to suspect that she murdered him while attempting to resist his advances.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShock Corridor (1963)
With the help of his girlfriend Cathy and Dr. Fong, a psychiatrist, ambitious journalist Johnny Barrett poses as a madman in order to be admitted to a mental institution where a bloody murder has been committed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Beautiful Place to Die: A Martha's Vineyard Mystery (2020)
After being forced into early retirement, former detective Jeff Jackson returns to a quiet life on Martha's Vineyard. Quiet, at least, until a body washes up and he's drawn back into crime solving.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBelly (1998)
Tommy Bundy and Sincere are best friends as well as infamous and ruthless criminals and shot-callers in the hood. Respected by many but feared by all. As the police are closing in on them and new players are looking for a come up, will their reign last?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Unforgivable (2021)
A woman is released from prison after serving a sentence for a violent crime and re-enters a society that refuses to forgive her past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRiot in Cell Block 11 (1954)
A prisoner leads his counterparts in a protest for better living conditions which turns violent and ugly.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEach Dawn I Die (1939)
A corrupt D.A. with governatorial ambitions is annoyed by an investigative reporter's criticism of his criminal activities and decides to frame the reporter for manslaughter in order to silence him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Sisterhood of Night (2015)
When a teenage girl says she's the victim of a secret network called The Sisterhood of Night, a quiet suburban town becomes the backdrop for a modern-day Salem witch trial.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCleaner (2007)
Single father and former cop Tom Cutler has an unusual occupation: he cleans up death scenes. But when he's called in to sterilize a wealthy suburban residence after a brutal shooting, Cutler is shocked to learn he may have unknowingly erased crucial evidence, entangling himself in a dirty criminal cover-up.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInside Man (2023)
Based on true events. A disgraced police detective seeking redemption goes undercover to expose a violent crime syndicate. But as he sinks deeper into the mob, the price for absolution may be higher than he can afford.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Am Elizabeth Smart (2017)
The story of Elizabeth Smart's kidnapping and captivity, as told from her perspective.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPerformance. (1970)
In underworld terms, Chas Devlin is a 'performer,' a gangster with a talent for violence and intimidation. Turner is a reclusive rock superstar. When Chas and Turner meet, their worlds collide—and the impact is both exotic and explosive.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Art of Self-Defense (2019)
Casey is attacked at random on the street and enlists in a local dojo led by a charismatic and mysterious Sensei in an effort to learn how to defend himself. What he uncovers is a sinister world of fraternity, violence and hypermasculinity and a woman fighting for her place in it.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBald-Headed Betty (1975)
Poor Betty gets drugged and kidnapped at a teen beach party and finds herself in clutches of a sleazy prostitution ring. After trying to escape, her head is shaved as punishment. Soon enough, she's the star of the stable for all the local bald freaks.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
The Big Bird Cage (1972)
Women rebel against slave labor in a filthy jungle prison where they feed sugar cane to a mechanical maw.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisWayúu: La Niña de Maracaibo (2012)
A detective, goes from Spain to the Venezuelan Guajira, hired by the king of Wuayuus, to protect her, Niña de Maracaibo (wife of King, who belongs to an aristocratic family in the city) the detective tries to discover a conspiracy greater than initially imagined. Where he is only one piece in a plot which mixes smuggling, power struggles and tribal magic. The clash of two opposite visions, the 'Western' Spanish researcher, and the 'native' the Wuayuu original owners of Caribbean, converts this format film apparently 'police' in a thesis film revealing the mystery of the still existing singular South American identity.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
After a terrified toy salesman is mysteriously attacked and brought to the hospital clutching the year's most popular Halloween mask, Dr. Daniel Challis sets out to investigate the strange events and finds himself thrust into a nightmarish conspiracy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery
SnoozefestMovies like thisAgora (2009)
A historical drama set in Roman Egypt, concerning philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria and her relationship with her slave Davus, who is torn between his love for her and the possibility of gaining his freedom by joining the rising tide of Christianity.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Doctor Speaks Out (1966)
A serious Swiss melodrama/documentary about abortion, marketed as a sexy exploitation movie in the US. The film contains real medical footage.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The House of the Devil (2009)
A young college student who’s struggling financially takes a strange babysitting job which coincides with a full lunar eclipse. She slowly realizes her clients harbor a terrifying secret, putting her life in mortal danger.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMax Havelaar: or, The Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company (1976)
An idealistic Dutch colonial officer posted to Indonesia in the 19th century is convinced that he can make the kinds of changes that will actually help the local people he is in charge of, but circumstances soon make him realize just how out of touch he really is, and it doesn't take long for things to go from bad to worse.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like Lash of the Penitentes and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Lash of the Penitentes?
The closest matches to Lash of the Penitentes are Past Malice: An Emma Fielding Mystery (2018), Garage Sale Mystery: A Case Of Murder (2017) and Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: Haunted By Murder (2022). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Lash of the Penitentes?
Start with Past Malice: An Emma Fielding Mystery (2018), the closest match to Lash of the Penitentes.
What is the highest-rated movie like Lash of the Penitentes?
The Unforgivable (2021), rated 7.4/10 by 2,174 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Lash of the Penitentes?
Inside Man (2023) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Lash of the Penitentes?
Yes: Past Malice: An Emma Fielding Mystery (2018), Garage Sale Mystery: A Case Of Murder (2017) and Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: Haunted By Murder (2022).
How are movies similar to Lash of the Penitentes chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Lash of the Penitentes, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.